Full name Brian Christopher Broad
Born September 29, 1957, Knowle, Somerset
Current age 62 years 68 days
Major teams England, Gloucestershire, Nottinghamshire, Orange Free State
Nickname Walter, Broodie
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Other Referee, Commentator
Height 6 ft 4 in
Education St Paul's College, Cheltenham
Relation Son - SCJ Broad
Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 4s | 6s | Ct | St | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tests | 25 | 44 | 2 | 1661 | 162 | 39.54 | 4387 | 37.86 | 6 | 6 | 173 | 1 | 10 | 0 |
ODIs | 34 | 34 | 0 | 1361 | 106 | 40.02 | 2447 | 55.61 | 1 | 11 | 81 | 3 | 10 | 0 |
First-class | 340 | 613 | 38 | 21892 | 227* | 38.07 | 50 | 105 | 189 | 0 | ||||
List A | 319 | 314 | 15 | 10396 | 122 | 34.76 | 11 | 68 | 82 | 0 |
Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w | 10 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tests | 25 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 0 | - | - | - | 4.00 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
ODIs | 34 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | - | - | - | 6.00 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
First-class | 340 | 1631 | 1037 | 16 | 2/14 | 64.81 | 3.81 | 101.9 | 0 | 0 | |||
List A | 319 | 1027 | 920 | 25 | 3/46 | 3/46 | 36.80 | 5.37 | 41.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Test debut | England v West Indies at Lord's, Jun 28-Jul 3, 1984 scorecard |
Last Test | England v Australia at Lord's, Jun 22-27, 1989 scorecard |
Test statistics | |
ODI debut | Australia v England at Perth, Jan 1, 1987 scorecard |
Last ODI | England v West Indies at Lord's, May 23-24, 1988 scorecard |
ODI statistics | |
First-class span | 1979 - 1994 |
List A span | 1979 - 1994 |
Test debut | New Zealand v Pakistan at Hamilton, Dec 19-23, 2003 scorecard |
Last Test | Afghanistan v West Indies at Lucknow, Nov 27-29, 2019 scorecard |
Test matches | 100 |
Test statistics | |
ODI debut | New Zealand v Pakistan at Auckland, Jan 3, 2004 scorecard |
Last ODI | Afghanistan v West Indies at Lucknow, Nov 11, 2019 scorecard |
ODI matches | 320 |
ODI statistics | |
T20I debut | South Africa v New Zealand at Johannesburg, Oct 21, 2005 scorecard |
Last T20I | Afghanistan v West Indies at Lucknow, Nov 17, 2019 scorecard |
T20I matches | 101 |
T20I statistics |
A tall left-handed opener who batted with his bottom inelegantly stuck out towards square-leg, Chris Broad was an unusually single-minded and ambitious county cricketer. His occasional gracelessness was the flip-side of his impressive determination, and in 1983 he left his home-town club Gloucestershire for Nottinghamshire, whingeing that their unambitiousness had held him back. England rewarded this theoretically frowned-on move by picking him at once. This paid off spectacularly against the weak Australian team of 1986-87 when Broad equalled Jack Hobbs and Wally Hammond by scoring centuries in three successive Tests of an Ashes series. He scored a further 139 in the dreary Sydney bicentenary Test a year later but smashed the stumps down after being bowled. And when he was seen mouthing off after being given lbw at Lord's, he was dropped - ostensibly for loss of form, but the England management was getting increasingly tough-minded after the free-for-all of the Ian Botham era, and petulance was out of fashion: Broad only ever played two more Tests. Later, he became more serene but less effective, returning in peace to Gloucestershire and then joining the BBC TV commentary team before it was disbanded. His commentary was as well-honed as his batting, though his flair for it was less obvious. His subsequent reincarnation as an ICC match referee was a classic poacher-turned-gamekeeper situation.
Matthew Engel